The University of Oregon Club tennis team served up some fun and excitement Oct. 16 with its preseason on-campus tournament, testing students’ skills in both singles and doubles competition. The tournament also allowed the club to prepare for the upcoming season, when the team will defend its first-ever division championship.
Thirty athletes dusted off their rackets, laced up their sneakers and took to the court for a full day of tennis. The participants split into teams of five, and then faced off in two men’s singles matches, two women’s singles and a mixed doubles match. At the end of the day, Tina Snodgrass, Ben Pritchard, Patrick Wihelm, Anthony Sparks and Courtney Whitfield emerged victorious.
The club capped off the evening with the presentation of the trophy it received for winning the Pacific Northwest Division of the United States Tennis Association Campus Championships. The club is optimistic about the chances for a repeat performance, largely because the squad returns with half of its members from last year’s successful campaign.
“We think we could do a lot better this year,” club coordinator Erin Small said.
The Ducks’ season was up in the air until the final tournament in 2004; Oregon entered that competition tied with Portland State. Oregon fought off challenges from the Vikings and the defending champion Western Washington University to take the title in only the team’s third year of existence.
“The first year it was just finding other teams that were interested in having a match,” Small said. “(The club was) a great way to stay involved in tennis and to meet a lot of people.”
After the regional tournament, Oregon advanced to the national competition, where they contended with a large field and a strange tournament format.
“We didn’t know what to expect,” Small said.
What the Ducks found was unlike anything that had seen before. Matches at the national tournament featured a substitution policy that allowed teams to remove a player at any juncture in the match, even between a first and second serve.
In addition, the winner of the match was determined by the number of games won as opposed to the number of sets won as in traditional tennis.
“If a team needed to come from behind, they could keep playing the last match even after it was over, as long as they didn’t lose a game,” Small said.
Despite the unorthodox formula, Oregon placed 18th out of 52 teams.
The Ducks will bring that postseason experience to bear this year as they defend their division title. Singles specialists and twin sisters Erin Miller and Beth Miller look to lead the way on the women’s side of the club, while veterans Ricky Huynh and Ryan Wahl are two of a solid group of men on the team. Coach Greg Smith is also returning to the club, albeit after a hiatus, which left the squad without a coach last year.
“It’ll be nice to have someone to help us improve our skills,” Small said.
The club tennis season consists of two multi-team tournaments and around 10 one-on-one matches with other schools both in and out the division. Oregon will take part in a tournament Nov. 5-6 in Portland to kick off its title defense.